Wharfedale 24, Exeter 39

A disappointing crowd of around 600, including Rugby Football Union president Bob Taylor, watched a cracker of a fourth-round EDF Energy National Trophy tie yesterday.

Wharfedale may have bowed out bowed out but their National One opponents - a club with genuine aspirations for a place in the Premiership, and currently second in their division - were made to sweat buckets for victory.

It had seemed to be game over' at the interval, with Exeter 29-5 ahead, but the Greens thrilled their fans with a stirring comeback, winning the second half against the full-time professionals.

The try count was just six to four in Exeter's favour, and the visitors relied on the power of their awesome pack for four of their touchdowns. The Dalesmen, taking chances in a manner that bodes very well for upcoming vital relegation-zone clashes in the league, registered their scores via two superbly constructed moves, plus two opportunistic gems'.

Chiefs coach Peter Drewett, praised Wharfedale's spirit and determination.

"It was a typical cup-tie", he said. "Wharfedale raised their game and we had to really dig in at times in the second half to maintain our advantage."

The first half went very much according to plan for Exeter, once they had absorbed the surprise of falling 5-3 behind, Wharfedale full back Adam Whaites touching down in the corner barely a minute after fly half Tony Yapp had landed a 12th-minute penalty for Exeter.

Constant pressure on the Greens' line, with speedy winger Josh Drauniniu in particular a frequent threat to the hosts' overworked defence, duly reaped reward in the shape of four tries, all but one converted by the reliable Yapp.

In the 17th minute, it was right winger Stephen Ward, collecting a finely-judged angled kick by Yapp for the first Exeter try.

Five minutes later, flanker Tony Walker muscled over under the posts.

The Greens then held out against waves of attacks until, as the interval approached, Exeter landed two hammer blows.

Centre Wade Kelly emerged with the ball in the 38th minute after his pack had blasted him over the Wharfedale line, and in injury time another irresistible maul ended with No 8 Chad Slade taking the honour.

On the restart, the Chiefs surged forward on all-out attack.

Another try, which must have killed off the Dalesmen, seemed imminent.

But, out of the blue, Wharfedale winger Neil Baggett grabbed at a gifted interception and, head back, sprinted 70 metres to the visitors' posts, fly half Luke Gray adding the conversion.

Tails up, the Greens mounted sustained pressure on the Exeter defence.

In the 55th minute, they snatched another opportunist try. The Exeter pack made a mess of a scrum five metres out and Gray pounced eagerly on the ball as it bobbled over the line.

Prop Shane Kingsland eased his side's concerns with a 62nd-minute try after another powerful maul from a close line-out, to open the gap to 34-17.

But another spell of fierce Wharfedale pressure on the Chiefs' line culminated in a rapid move to the right wing, launched by scrum half James Doherty, and ending with Baggett's second try in the 69th minute.

Gray's conversion made it 34-24, and suddenly the National One side were reeling.

But that was as close as Wharfedale came. Exeter regained composure and, now faced with a tiring defence, probed for the killer try.

It came in the 78th minute, neatly constructed from the base of a scrum, with Kevin Barrett offering the scoring pass to fellow substitute Danny Gray, who finished the move off in the right corner.

Wharfedale: A Whaites; N Baggett, C Malherbe, A Hodgson (A Baggett 67), S Horsfall; L Gray, J Doherty (J Gill 72); T Horner, G Hindle (D Charnley 76), C Steel (A Mason 56), D Lister, A Capstick (O Renton 48), D Muckalt (D Clements 67), A Allen, R Baldwin.

Exeter: G Kingdom; S Ward, A Fatialofa (M Fatialofa 11, K Barrett 52), W Kelly, J Drauniniu; T Yapp, C Stuart-Smith (D Gray 74); S Kingsland, S Jenkins (S Blythe 71), J Horn-Smith (B Sturgess 59), C Bentley (J Hanks 71), L Stevenson, T Walker (A Miller 59), G Willis, C Slade.

Referee: Keith Lewis